Well bore treatment fluids often are used in, e.g., well drilling, completion, and stimulation operations. Examples of such well bore treatment fluids include, but are not limited to, drilling fluids, cement compositions, spacer fluids, fracturing fluids, acidizing fluids, completion fluids, and the like. As used herein, the term “well bore treatment fluid” will be understood to mean any fluid that may be used in a subterranean application in conjunction with a desired function and/or for a desired purpose. The term “well bore treatment fluid” does not imply any particular action by the fluid. The well bore treatment fluids may be introduced into a well bore in accordance with known techniques.
It may be desirable to know various properties of the well bore treatment fluids to accurately predict how the fluids should act upon being introduced into the well bore. Fluid properties that may be important when designing well bore treatment fluids include, but are not limited to, rheological behavior, fluid loss, static gel strength, sedimentation, thickening time, compressive strength, viscosity, and free water, among others. A particular fluid may be selected for use in a well bore based on one or more of these properties. For example, a spacer fluid may be selected having a rheology that maximizes the fluid's displacement efficiency. Additionally, optimizing a spacer fluid's rheology can also help to prevent fluid inversion due to fluid density differences between the fluids before and after the spacer fluid. By way of further example, a fracturing fluid may be selected having a viscosity sufficient to generate fracture geometry and transport proppant. The fluid design for a subterranean operation has typically been based on both experience and laboratory testing, whereas the use of modeling methods to predict fluid behavior has been limited. For example, fluid design can require extensive laboratory time to test a number of different fluid formulations before a well bore treatment fluid having desirable properties may be selected.